The Michigan State University College of Law will be hosting a conference this September on the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Speakers, including a number of leading law professors, will evaluate both the success of the Declaration and the obstacles it faces. Click here for more information. My only knock: it would be nice to see a speaker from Latin America. At any rate, kudos to MSU.
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I’ve repeatedly expressed concern over ethnically charged reform movements in South America. Reform can be good–too often it’s desperately needed–but reform in the name of empowering a particular ethnic group is rarely helpful. It can get a person elected–and even bring progress (e.g., where the group to be empowered has been historically oppressed)–but in the end it inculcates an us-versus-them mentality, a mentality that, ironically, the reformers attribute to the old guard.
For more on this idea, I strongly recommend Yale Law Professor Amy Chua’s World on Fire. Subtitled “How Exporting Free Market Democracy Breeds Ethnic Hatred and Global Instability,” Chua’s book exposes the problems of ethnic movements in general, and the problems of democratically fueled ethnic movements in the face of market dominant minorities in particular. She spans the gl0be to make her case but spends a number of pages on Bolivia and Venezuela. The bottom line for me after reading this book: ethnic equality remains as important as ever, yet the way to achieve this is not through “red power” or “black power” but an ethic that says “somos todos indios, como nosotros todos blancos y negros.”
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The LA Times has a story today about authorities seizing and deporting people in the middle of immigration cases–at the courthouse! What seems to be happening is this: A person immigrates to the U.S. illegally and is deported pursuant to a court order. So far, so good. Then the person reenters the U.S.–again illegally. At that point immigration authorities have two options: (1) they can reinstate the deportation order and remove the alien on their own; or (2) they can file a fresh charge and start a new case for deportation or other relief in court. If they go with the latter option, it seems pretty clear that they have to let the court do its business. In other words, immigration authorities can’t change their minds mid-way through a case and decide to go the quick and dirty route. But that’s apparently what they are doing, choosing to “reinstate” the previously issued deportation order because the court process is taking too long. And, in at least some cases, ICE agents have done the round-up at the downtown LA courthouse. The Times story doesn’t indicate the frequency with which this is happening, but it’s causing outrage nonetheless. Retired immigration judge Gilbert Gembacz said
immigration agents are “asserting power and authority they do not have” by arresting immigrants in the courthouse before proceedings are completed.
“They are acting in a way that demonstrates contempt toward the Immigration Court,” he said. “They are acting like immigration judges have no purpose.”
Strong words, but I tend to agree.
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Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Deportation, Immigration, Immigration law, Immigration policy
Transito Amaguana passed away this week in her native Ecuadorean village at the ripe old age of 100. She was a great advocate for Indian rights. Read more here.
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I have criticized Evo Morales in the past for fanning the flames of ethnic tension in Bolivia. But in doing so I have betrayed, at least in part, my own ignorance of the situation. The United Nations recently reported “forced labor” among Indian communities in eastern Bolivia. (I don’t know if that’s a nice euphemism for slavery; I suspect–I need to read the report in full–that these folks are forced to work during daylight, and then are “free” to return to their homes at night.) When this is the reality on the ground, Evo’s ethnically-charged language seems a lot more reasonable. I still hold that Evo would be a stronger force for positive change if he toned down the us-versus-them rhetoric and worked harder to build consensus. When evaluating Evo’s leadership, however, I need–we all need–to think about the long history of persecution suffered by the indigenous masses . . . and the fact that it still continues. Western eyes can be deceiving.
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Posted in Bolivia
Tagged Bolivia, Evo Morales, United Nations report on forced labor in Bolivia
Normally when I receive my free copy of the California Bar Journal, I skim it but don’t actually read the articles. A piece in this month’s edition, however, caught my eye. In “Beijing, Buenos Aires and Beyond,” Michael Swarz discusses the framework that U.S. courts use for the discoverability of internationally located electronically stored information (ESI). Sometimes the FRCP governs; sometimes the Hague Convention. Swarz discusses the factors that courts must consider, identified by the Supreme Court in Aerospatiale, when deciding which set of rules to apply. In big-time civil litigation in U.S. courts, discovery is the name of the game–and knowing how to get that discovery is paramount. So if you’re a California lawyer who litigates cases involving internationally located ESI, you should probably give this a read. If you take the self-assessment test included in the Journal, you get MCLE credit to boot. Not bad for a free publication.
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El Alto, Bolivia–like its neighbor La Paz–is a stronghold of support for President Evo Morales. Correspondingly, before Morales came to power, it was at the center of an opposition movement against then-President Gonzalo Sanchez Lozado (“Goni”). That movement turned bloody in 2003. Sixty-three protesters died in El Alto when soldiers sought to quell anti-Goni demonstrations. Now that the political tide has turned, Morales and his supporters want justice. Shortly after Morales was elected in 2006, the Morales government filed genocide charges against Goni and seventeen of his ministers, accusing them of ordering the massacre. Goni fled to the U.S., obtaining asylum from George W. Bush. That’s old news. The current development? Peru just granted refugee status to two of the wanted ministers. This is sure to strain relations between Bolivia and Peru even further, as Morales said earlier that such a move would amount to ”an open provocation of the Bolivian people.” (Morales hasn’t yet responded to the official announcement.) The ex-ministers maintain that they cannot receive a fair trial in Bolivia, because the entire case is politically motivated.
This saga raises a number of troubling questions. Just a sample: When does a case become so “politicized” that a fair trial is impossible? Who should make that determination? Is it fair to call the massacre here “genocide” (yes, indigenous folks were killed, but they seem to have been targeted because of their political views)? If so, should we nevertheless question Morales’s motivation in using the term? Isn’t it more likely to inflame ethnic tension than accomplish anything constructive?
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Hat Tip: The New York Times
This event, hosted by Georgetown, looks to be fabulous. For anyone interested in transnational legal practice–and especially those interested in teaching in this area–a plane ticket to D.C. in early June would be a wise investment. Topics on the agenda include “What Legal Education Ought to be Doing to Prepare Students to Practice in the Global Economy”; “Biculturalism: The Need to be Aware of How Culture and Ethnicity Shape Identities, Learning Styles, and Attitudes toward Conflict Resolution”; and “Preparing for the Globalized Law Practice: The Need to Include International and Comparative Law in the Legal Writing Curriculum.”
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Hat Tip: International Law Prof Blog
